


A Penny For The Ferryman

by RakshaTheDemon



Category: Frozen (2013), The Good Place (TV)
Genre: (but not endgame), Angst and Humor, Gen, Minor Anna/Hans (Disney), major good place spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-07 05:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14074338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RakshaTheDemon/pseuds/RakshaTheDemon
Summary: The Frozen/Good Place crossover that nobody asked for. Elsa, Anna, Hans, and Kristoff are dead. But it's not all bad, because they made it into the Good Place--and they even get to be in the same Neighborhood!What could possibly go wrong?





	1. Welcome To The Good Place

“Hello, Elsa, and welcome to the Good Place.”

“The...I’m sorry, what?”

They were sitting in an office, a large wooden desk between them. Elsa couldn’t remember where she was or how she’d gotten there, but somehow that didn’t bother her as much as it should have.

“It’s alright that you’re confused. Everyone is, at first.” The man offered a kind smile. “My name is Michael. And you, Elsa--I’m sorry, _Queen_ Elsa--are dead.”

“Oh.”

It was a ridiculous claim. Elsa was sitting there, clearly conscious and whole and breathing. And yet she _knew_ it was true. She could feel it as surely as she could feel the ice that still sat just beneath her surface.

(So the curse had followed her beyond death. Well, there was some comfort to be found in the familiar, at least.)

“How did I die?” It seemed the logical question, given that she couldn’t remember much past her coronation. There were some disjointed flashes of the celebration, and a vague notion that she and Anna had argued about... _something_...and then blank.

Perhaps the strain of keeping herself perfectly poised in front of all those people had caused a fatal stroke.

Michael’s smile faltered for just a moment before fixing back into place. “It might be best to save that for later.”

Elsa knew that tone. She’d heard it often enough from her parents, growing up. It was the tone they had used to tell her when Grandfather passed away. The tone that meant “this will upset you, and we’re afraid of what that could mean.”

Only, she was dead now. And Michael was either dead, or (more likely) some kind of immortal being. What danger could her ice possibly pose, here?

“Tell me,” she commanded. He _had_ called her ‘Queen’. If she retained the title, then she should retain the authority.

“All right,” he said. “Without going too far into the more upsetting details, you lost control of your magic.”

Elsa stiffened.

“Was...anyone else hurt?” She didn’t want to know. Didn’t want to hear how much destruction she had caused, before the end. But she had to.

“Several people were injured. Three of them are now...well, here. In this Neighborhood.”

Three dead.

Ice crept up her spine and slid through her veins, but she forced it back. People were dead, but so was she, and so far death didn’t seem too terrible.

“Did I know them?”

“There was Kristoff Bjorgman, a mountain climber. Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. And...Princess Anna.”

Elsa’s breath caught.

Storm winds howled in her ears and ice surged at her fingertips.

She had killed Anna.

The vague memories of their fight gave way to imagined scenarios of Elsa losing her grip on her emotions. She’d let herself become upset--let herself _feel_ , just once--and had destroyed the only thing in the world that mattered.

Her parents had been right to close her off, but they hadn’t taken it far enough. She should’ve been locked away in a dungeon, or sent to live alone on a mountain. They should have left her with the trolls all those years ago, and just gone home with the one good daughter.

“Snap out of it!”

Elsa started. The rushing in here ears died as suddenly as it had started, and she found herself aware of her surroundings again. A layer of snow covered everything and jagged ice grew in patches from her chair and the desk.

“It’s okay,” Michael said. The comforting smile was back. “Anna is here, in the Good Place. Technically some of her behavior qualifies her for the Bad Place, but we were worried that you wouldn’t be able to control your powers if you were concerned about her. So she’s here, assigned to the same Neighborhood as you. You’ll be able to see her every day and know that she’s perfectly fine.”

Elsa opened her mouth to tell him that he was wrong, that being near Anna was the _last_ thing that should ever be allowed. But then the rest of his words sunk in, and instead she asked, “What do you mean, ‘the Bad Place’?”

 

* * *

 

Anna was dead. And there was an afterlife. _And_ she’d made it into heaven.

That was a lot to take in.

Like, a _lot_.

But she did her best to sit still and listen to Michael’s explanation of how the afterlife worked, despite the desire to run out and meet the neighbors as soon as possible.

_Neighbors_ . She was going to have _neighbors_ now. An entire community of people talk to and play games with. They could throw parties and have movie nights in the park and go out for weekly brunch.

Ooh, and camping! Was there room in the neighborhood for that? And what about a lake for sailing and fishing and collecting seashells? Were there horses to ride? Were there _bumper cars_? Did the afterlife have a day/night cycle so she could stargaze, and would there ever be Northern Lights?

And soulmates! Who knew soulmates were an actual thing? Of course Anna had always _dreamed_ it, but to find out that she and Hans really _were_ meant for each other was incredible. She had a million questions on how that worked, too. Did everyone have a soulmate? What happened if they died at different times? How often did soulmates meet before dying? How was soulmate matching even done? Was it some kind of math thing?  

Poor Michael didn’t even have time to answer one handful of questions before she was firing off the next set. Eventually he held up a hand to silence her.

“Janet?” he called.

There was a soft “ding” and suddenly a dark-haired woman in a purple dress was standing next to them. “Hi!” she said cheerily.

“Whoa! Where did you come from?”

“My void. It exists outside of space-time. How can I help you today?”

“Anna, this is Janet,” Michael said. “Janet, this is Anna.”

“I know,” Janet said. “I know everything.”

“Janet is the informational assistant in the Good Place. Well, in this neighborhood, anyway.”

Okay, the afterlife just kept getting cooler.

“So you’re like a robot?”

“Not a robot,” Janet said.

“Oh.”

“Janet has access to all the information in the universe. She’ll answer your questions while I go take care of some business.” He excused himself, leaving them alone in the office.

The next hour or so passed with Janet happily answering all of Anna’s questions, in order, no matter how many she asked before pausing to take a breath. It turned out that there was a park big enough for camping and a lake big enough for boats. The sky had stars at night (“but it’s never actually night or day here, just a simulation. There are no stars.”) and Janet could _make_ the Northern Lights happen. She could also make a bumper cars arena, which Anna immediately begged for.

“Do you make everything here?” she asked.

“I do! I created this entire neighborhood. It’s like my baby, except it didn’t grow inside of me. It’s more of a brain-baby, except I also don’t have a brain as I am not a biological organism.”

“Whoa. You are _so cool!_ ”

“Thank you. I _am_ cool.” Janet had been smiling throughout their entire conversation, but she seemed to beam just a bit brighter at the compliment.

“I’ve never had a robot--I mean, an ‘informational assistant’, as a friend before,” Anna said.

“I’ve never had a friend.”

There was nothing sad in the way she said it--she was as chipper as always--but the thought still broke Anna’s heart. “Never? Not even, I dunno, another Informational Assistant?”

“I was only made fully conscious when Michael needed me to begin constructing this Neighborhood.”

“So...could I be your first friend, then?”

This time her smile _definitely_ got wider.

“I would be delighted.”

 

* * *

 

Elsa did her best to be inconspicuous during the orientation party, but blending in was difficult when she was the only person wearing a crown. The one good thing was that the more people curiously gathered around the resident royal, the easier it was to keep a barrier between herself and Anna.

Should she have been feeling so much anxiety in Heaven?

“I did always want to visit Arendelle,” said a woman with a British accent. “Never did find the time, though, what with all of my charity work. You know, building hospitals, clothing orphans, that sort of thing. Tahani Al-Jamil, by the way. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?” She held out a hand and Elsa did her best not to flinch away.

“Sorry, I don’t shake hands.”

“Of course you don’t. Ah, the delightful quirks of royalty.” Tahani sounded genuinely pleased over Elsa’s refusal to touch her.

“Al-Jamil...that sounds familiar. You have a sister, don’t you?” Elsa half-remembered being introduced to an Al-Jamil at her coronation. But like everything from that day it was something of a haze.

“...Yes. Well, pity she’s still alive or else she’d be able to join us.” Tahani didn’t _sound_ particularly upset at that. “But speaking of sisters, isn’t that Princess Anna? Oh, that _is_ going to take some getting used to, having a queen _and_ a princess in the Neighborhood.”

Elsa followed where Tahani was looking. There was Anna, animatedly talking to someone. Prince Hans was with her--Elsa just barely recognized him--and so was Michael. His eyes caught Elsa’s, and he said something to Anna before waving Elsa over.

Elsa considered running away--there had to be places to hide in the Neighborhood--but then she thought about everything Michael had told her about the Bad Place. Anna was only here, in the Good Place, because Michael thought Elsa wanted-- _needed_ \--to be near her.

Avoiding Anna now, with him standing right there? The potential consequences were unthinkable.

She took a deep breath, checking that her gloves were in place. Maybe her magic wasn’t a risk here, anyway, and she was worrying about nothing.

“Enjoying the party, Your Majesty?” Michael asked when she approached. Beside him Anna was suddenly very focused on pulling a loose thread from her dress. Prince Hans stood on her other side, an arm around her shoulder.

“It’s lovely,” Elsa said. “Are...you having fun?”

It took a nudge from Hans to get Anna’s focus. “Who, me? Oh, uh, yeah. It’s--it’s nice, having a party. Kinda weird being dead, though.”

“Why don’t I let you three catch up?” Michael said. “I’m sure you have a lot to talk about--it’s not often a Neighborhood has four people who all died in the same accident!”

“You know, it’s weird,” Anna said,  “but no matter how much I try I just can’t remember how we died. _Man_ that’s wild to say.”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“He wouldn’t tell either of us,” Hans said. “Something about it being too traumatic.”

They didn’t know what she had done. Maybe Michael was trying to spare her their anger? Or perhaps he expected her to do the right thing and tell them herself.

“Wait, does that mean _you_ know?” Anna asked.

“No,” Elsa said quickly. She could confess her sins later, when she was certain her magic wouldn’t hurt anyone here. “He told me it would be too upsetting, same as with you.”

“Must’ve been some accident,” Anna said.

“The important thing is that we’re still together,” Hans said with a squeeze of Anna’s shoulder.

Anna opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the reappearance of Michael.

“Sorry, sorry, I know I said I was going to give you all some time, but I actually need to borrow Prince Hans for a few minutes. Something’s come up.”

“Nothing bad, I hope?” Hans asked.

“Of course not. Just--well, come with me and I’ll explain.”

Anna gave Hans a quick kiss on the cheek, promising that they could talk later. “It’s not like we don’t have time,” she added with a laugh.

“I wonder what that’s all about,” Anna mused once they had left.

“I’m not sure.” Whatever it was, it made Elsa uncomfortable. She didn’t like not knowing what was going on. It made her feel vulnerable.

They lapsed into an awkward silence. As usual, Anna was the one to break it.

“This is weird.”

“ _Very_ weird.”

“Heaven seems nice. Lots more frozen yogurt that I would’ve expected.”

Elsa could feel the eyes of some of the other people watching them. They were still celebrities, even here. Some things would never change. She rubbed her hands together nervously.

“You know, I don’t think there’s that much dirt in Heaven,” Anna said.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“The gloves. I don’t get why you’re still wearing them.”

Elsa quickly moved her hands behind her back, out of sight. “I don’t expect you to understand.”

Anna’s smile faded, and Elsa felt her stomach drop with the realization of how her response must have seemed.

“That didn’t come out right,” she said. “It’s just...complicated.”

“And you’re still not going to bother explaining, are you?”

Magic was prickling to life under Elsa’s skin. She was letting her emotions get to her. This conversation needed to end.

“That’s what I thought,” Anna said, clearly reading Elsa’s thoughts in her expression.

They were interrupted once again by the return of Michael and Hans.

“Anna, I’m afraid I have to apologize,” Michael said. “When you arrived I told you that Hans was your soulmate. But it turns out there was a calculation error.”

“Wait, what?”

“ _Your_ soulmate is a Tibetan monk named Jianyu. I’ll take you to meet him in just a moment. And as for Hans…” Michael’s gaze drifted to Elsa.

Her stomach dropped.

Oh no. No, no no.

Anna would never forgive her for this.

“His soulmate is Elsa.”


	2. The Soulmate Equation

The afterlife _stunk_.

Anna and Hans were in love. They’d _been_ in love from the first moment they’d locked eyes after she’d nearly bowled him over. Meeting him had been like meeting the other half of herself. Anna had heard the phrase “he completes me” in romcoms, but she’d never known how _true_ it could be until Hans.

They were supposed to get married and spend the rest of their lives together. The Good Place meant that they could spend _eternity_ together, but instead she was following Michael to the outskirts of the Neighborhood to meet some monk. Meanwhile the _love of her life_ was being matched up with _Elsa_.

Because it wasn’t enough that Elsa had stopped acting like a friend--let alone a _sister_ \--or that she had refused to keep the castle open after the celebrations ended (Anna didn’t remember much from that day, but she remembered that). Elsa had spent years ruining Anna’s life, and now she was doing the same to Anna’s _after_ life.

...Okay, so maybe that wasn’t totally fair. It wasn’t like Elsa got to choose her soulmate any more than Anna did. And most of the blame for keeping the castle sealed off sat with their parents. If they had asked Elsa to keep the gates shut, could Anna really blame her for following their wishes?

Anna wasn’t sure. Maybe none of it was really Elsa’s fault, but all of it _hurt_ , and somehow Elsa was always at the epicenter of those things.

“Here we are,” Michael said, breaking Anna out of her thoughts. They had stopped at the edge of a field, near a little round building that must have been a storage shed of some kind. Two lines of stones formed an intricate path on the ground, and at its center sat a man in a white robe. His eyes were closed, but he opened them when Michael spoke. Wordlessly he stood and walked over to them.

“Princess Anna, meet your soulmate, Jianyu.”

“Hi,” she said.

Jianyu nodded.

“He doesn’t speak,” Michael explained. “He took vows of both silence and poverty, and has chosen to maintain both. That’s also why you will be living in that yurt.”

It took Anna a moment to realize he meant the building she’d assumed was a shed. _That_ was supposed to be a house? Anna knew that growing up in a castle meant she had somewhat different standards than most people, but this was clearly ridiculous.

As if reading her mind, Michael said, “I know this will be a hard change for you after growing up in a castle.”

“No,” Anna said, drawing out the word. “I’m sure it’s….cozy.”

“The change will be worth it,” Michael continued, clearly not buying her response for a second. “Jianyu is your soulmate. Your spiritual equal. You two have a connection that is unlike what anyone else in this Neighborhood has.”

“I thought everybody here had a soulmate?”

“Everyone else has a _romantic_ soulmate. You two are the only _platonic_ soulmates to have existed in over eight centuries. Your share a spiritual connection as strong as any love story. You literally complete one another. And yet there is not an ounce of romantic compatibility between you. It is the purest form of connection between two souls, unmarred by lust or even aesthetic attraction.”

“We aren’t supposed to be in love?” What kind of soulmates didn’t _love_ each other? Wasn’t that the whole point?

“There’s more than one type of love. And platonic love is the truest and most powerful form there is. Trust me, once you two get to know each other you’ll wonder why you ever wanted romance in the first place.”

“Oh. That...sounds great,” she lied. She couldn’t imagine ever not wanting romance.

“Well, I better get back. Lots of other soulmates to finish matching up. You kids have fun.”

Anna forced a smile as she waved goodbye. When she turned back around Jianyu was still standing there, his expression unchanged.

Well, Anna had always wanted friends, hadn’t she? Even before she’d discovered romance. She could be content with a really great friend.

At least, she could try to be.

“So...you’re a monk. That’s cool. At least, I think it is? I know monks in movies are always pretty awesome. Is being a monk anything like in the movies?”

Jianyu slowly shook his head “no.”

“Oh. Yeah, being a princess isn’t really like the movies, either. It’s actually _super_ boring a lot of the time.”

No response.

“...What does a monk do all day, then?” Maybe he would show her some martial arts or something. Just because being a monk wasn’t like the movies didn’t mean it was completely dull.

He walked back to the spot where he’d been when they arrived, sat down, and closed his eyes.

Right. Meditating.

Silently.

Heaven was officially the _worst_.

 

* * *

 

Elsa felt like she was going to throw up.

Was that even possible, here? She didn’t really want to find out, but her stomach was so twisted up that she wasn’t sure she’d have a choice.

The look Anna had given her before Michael lead her out of the party had been...there were no words. She’d seen Anna hurt before (been the cause of it more times than she cared to count) but this was a betrayal that went beyond anything else.

(At least until Anna discovered that Elsa had literally killed her.)

A chill breeze ruffled her dress and made Hans shudder. Was it one of hers? She couldn’t tell.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Hans asked gently.

Elsa nodded, because she was afraid that if she tried to speak she would simply start crying.

Or puking. Or both.

“Michael showed me our house already. It’s this way.” Hans began leading her through the crowd, politely deflecting every attempt at conversation along the way so she wouldn’t have to.

The walk didn’t take very long. Their “house” was the larger of two mansions that sat almost directly at the center of town. Part of her was surprised that it wasn’t an actual palace. People in the Neighborhood would have eaten that up, surely.

She followed Hans to a sunlit sitting room, taking a seat on one of several overstuffed couches. Hans left her for a moment, returning with a glass of water that he left on the table in front of her before taking a seat in the chair opposite hers.

He seemed to understand her need for space, and for that she was grateful.

She was even more grateful when the water glass didn’t frost over at her touch. Sipping the drink seemed to help her stomach undo the gordian knot it was in.

“I’m sorry,” Hans said. “It seems I keep causing you and Princess Anna grief.”

Elsa laughed wryly. “You’re not the problem, trust me.”

“Neither are you.” He winced as soon as he’d said it. “I apologize, Your Majesty. I’ve overstepped.”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

“My apologies,” he said, and then winced again.

It was just the sort of thing Anna would’ve done. He really was a good match for her, and yet he had been paired with Elsa instead. She felt like a homewrecker.

“I don’t know what Michael’s thinking. Anna looked so _happy_ with you.”

“...She looked happy with you, as well,” he said hesitantly. When Elsa didn’t respond, he continued. “She talks about you a lot. All she wants is to be closer with you.”

“It’s not that simple.”

Elsa took another drink, wishing it was something stronger than water.

(Was it her imagination, or did some of it turn to slush on the way down?)

“No,” he said. “I’m sure magic makes things very complicated.”

Elsa’s breath caught. Frost was on her tongue and under her skin and creeping around her heart.

“You know.”

He nodded. “I didn’t lose my memories. But I haven’t told Anna anything,” he added hastily. “It didn’t seem like my place.”

He knew. He knew _everything._ Even more than Elsa did (so much of the coronation party was still a huge, frustrating blank).

“Why are you _here?_ If you remember what happened then you know how dangerous I am.”

“I’m already dead. What more harm could you do?”

There was nothing accusatory in his tone, and somehow that made it worse. Elsa clenched her firsts and willed the storm to stay inside her.

“I don’t know. I already... _hurt_ people,” she couldn’t bring herself to say “killed”. Too much of a coward to admit what she’d done. “Who knows what else I could do?”

“I think there is someone, actually.” Hans said. “Have you met Janet?”

 

* * *

 

She tried the meditation thing. She really did. She sat on the grass and closed her eyes and tried to make her mind go blank even though just thinking “I want my mind to be blank” meant her mind _wasn’t_ blank and that seemed like a pretty big paradox to overcome.

If Jianyu was supposed to be Anna’s best friend in all of existence, then she should like the things he did. Right? Maybe if she could nail the whole meditation thing then it would cause some kind of spiritual awakening and she’d get inner peace, or something.

But instead she just felt _bored_. She’d already had a life full of sitting around doing nothing. What she wanted was a friend she could talk to.

Preferably someone who would talk _back_.

“I think I’m meditated out for awhile,” she said. There was no response from Jianyu, so she shrugged and got up, figuring that she might as well go inspect the yurt where she would be living for the rest of eternity.

She’d never been in a yurt before, but if this was a typical one then she hadn’t missed out on much. It was a single, round room, containing nothing but a pair of cots,a wood stove with a cast-iron pot hanging above it, and a small cabinet. Calling it “minimalist” was the biggest understatement since a dignitary at the coronation had said Elsa was “a bit of a mystery.”

Inside the cabinet was equally sparse. One side contained kitchen stuff (two bowls, two mugs, a bag of rice, and a jar of tea leaves--but it didn’t smell like any of the herbal blends Anna liked) while the other had two small stacks of neatly folded clothes: monk robes for Jianyu, and simple dresses for Anna.

Frustrated, she closed the cabinet and sat down heavily on one of the cots. It had a colorful blanket folded at one end, but running a hand over it proved it to be a scratchy wool that would irritate her skin. Perfect.

“Janet?”

There was a “ding” and then Janet was standing next to her with a broad smile.

“Hi! How can I help you?”

“Can you..maybe explain the whole ‘soulmate’ thing again? The math part?”

“Soulmates matches are made using an equation of several thousand data points, including religious beliefs, hobbies, favorite school subject, least favorite Beatles member, and opinions on fifteenth century Venetian architecture.”

“So If Jianyu is my soulmate, does that mean we agree on all that stuff?”

“Absolutely not. Compatibility is not the same as agreement.”

“Jianyu and I don’t _feel_ very compatible. Is it...possible that Michael made a mistake? I mean, could he have been mistaken _about_ being mistaken, and actually he was right the first time and Hans and I _are_ meant for each other and the _mistake_ is the mistake...?”

“Unlikely. I ran the calculations two billion times to be sure, and got the same result one billion, nine hundred ninety-nine million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-five times.”

Okay, those were some big numbers.

“And the other…” she tried to do the math in her head but had frankly lost track after the third “nine”.

“Of the remaining five results, one matched you with Prince Hans, three matched you with Kristoff Bjorgman, and one matched you with Frosty the Snowman. I rebooted myself after that one.”

“So Jianyu and I are definitely soulmates.”

“Definitely! Did you need anything else?”

“Yeah, a way to talk to someone who doesn’t _speak_ ,” she grumbled.

“Here you go!” Janet held out a small whiteboard and marker that _definitely_ hadn’t been in her hands a second ago.

It was such an obvious solution that Anna could have slapped herself.

“Janet, you are _amazing_.”

“I know. Glad I could help!” And then she vanished. _Literally_ , which Anna didn’t think she would ever be used to.

Whiteboard in one hand and marker in the other, she went back outside. Jianyu was still sitting in the middle of the rocks, exactly where she’d left him.

“Hey, Jianyu? I have something for you.” She dropped to the ground in front of him, holding the whiteboard up for him to see. “So we can talk, kind of. You can write what you want to say, and then the marker cap has a little eraser on it. That way you’re not actually _speaking_ , so you don’t have to break your vow. Is that...okay?”

She suddenly realized that she didn’t know how a vow of silence actually worked. Was it just a moratorium on talking out loud, or was communication banned outright? He’d been able to communicate “yes” and “no” before, but maybe that was all he was allowed to do. Presenting the whiteboard might have actually been horribly offensive.

He frowned, confirming her fear that she’d screwed up.

“I’m so sorry, I just don’t know anything about how monks work or vows, and I just want to get to know you since we’re supposed to have this deep friendship or whatever and I feel really dumb right now for not trying to learn a little bit about your vows before doing this and I’m sorry. I just--I wanted to get to know you.”

He was watching her carefully, his expression revealing very little about how he felt (and gee, wasn’t _that_ familiar). Not knowing if he was angry or not was somehow worse than if he’d yelled or stormed off. But then he held out a hand for the whiteboard, and Anna’s tension melted away.

She bounced on the balls of her feet while he carefully wrote out a message. Clearly thoughtfulness was Jianyu’s core character trait. She hoped he would be able to tolerate her impulsiveness, because thinking things through had never been Anna’s strong suit.

He flipped the board back around so Anna could see what he’d written in big, block letters.

_KNOWLEDGE IS POWER_

Anna grinned. “How about we take turns: I’ll tell you something about me, and then you tell me something about you. Sound good?”

 

* * *

 

 

Elsa was very much not prepared to have someone just _appear_ out of thin air, even after Hans’ warning. She just barely managed to contain the ice that wanted to escape whenever she was startled.

“Hi there!” Janet said. “How can I help you?”

“Queen Elsa has questions for you regarding her magic.”

Elsa’s stomach clenched at the casual use of the word, but Janet gave no reaction. Because of course she wouldn’t. She wasn’t a _person_ , she was an AI.

“Can my powers still hurt people?” Elsa asked.

“Physical injury is impossible here.”

If she hadn’t been sitting Elsa was sure she would have fallen into the chair from the overwhelming relief. The weight she’d been carrying for her entire life was suddenly gone. It seemed too good to be true.

“I’m not a danger anymore.”

Saying the words out loud made it real. She could have cried. She would have to find Anna, immediately. Find her and wrap her in the biggest hug Elsa could possibly muster. And then she would explain everything. No more secrets, no more closed doors.

Just the two of them, together. The way it should have been all along. The way she’d always dreamed.

“Inaccurate,” Janet said. “While you cannot cause physical harm, however your magic does present a danger to the structural integrity of the Neighborhood’s underlying reality matrix.”

Elsa’s blood ran cold.

Three seconds. Three entire seconds of happiness, and already the rug was being pulled out from under her.

“What happens if the matrix breaks?” Hans asked, but Elsa already knew the answer.

She would hurt people. She would ruin things. Because she was a ruiner--it was what she did best.

“The Neighborhood would collapse in on itself, creating an inescapable void of nothingness that would ultimately drive all of you insane and probably destroy me in the process.”

Elsa had been an idiot to think she might be free from her curse.

It was dangerous to dream. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.


End file.
